These funds enabled us to provide our full package of resources to our DarkFest artists this year in our new space. As of September 2017, we moved to a new home at 312 West 36th Street on the first floor, where we now control two theater spaces full-time. This has allowed us to double our annual programming to more than 800 performances and support the work of more than 2500 emerging artists annually, and we welcomed nearly 25,000 patrons into the space over the course of our 2017-18 Season. We give our artists free performance space, free rehearsal space, promotional support, full light and sound packages, and a guaranteed stipend with a cut of the box office.

DarkFest 2018 was the largest in our history. DarkFest is our annual week of programming where we turn off the grid and artists have to come up with alternate light sources for their work. We supported 11 performances total of six projects, with two evenings of variety shows featuring seven different short pieces. The Festival supported the work of 60 artists, and featured theater, dance, comedy, music, and puppetry. Light sources included lamps, phones, flashlights, practicals connected to our wifi, glowsticks, and more. The work in the Festival was seen by nearly 400 patrons. We have already been told by several groups that they intend to bring their projects to other venues and use the sustainable lighting techniques that they experimented with in the Festival in future work, so the goals of the Festival were met.

The grant made a substantial difference in our ability to maintain artist fees in 2018 in our new space. Having an amount of funding secured to support the Festival allowed us to ensure that each participant in the variety show received a $50 stipend, in addition to our standard stipend and box office split for evening-length shows.

We communicated about the project through all of our traditional marketing channels. We have an e-blast list of more than 15,000 patrons, as well as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram, where we have a total of more than 25,000 combined followers. We did a press release for DarkFest which was picked up by Broadway World and was a featured weekend activity in Time Out New York.

This program is unique and important. Encouraging green theater-making is crucial as environmental issues rise to the forefront of both politics and everyday life. We are planning to institute a policy in 2019 where 75% of all set materials need to be from a recycled source and recycled after the project. Greening our theater-making is an important initiative as we move forward in our new home on 36th Street.